A Test in Time
by FanOfTheWrittenArt
Summary: Magnus has never messed up a portal..except for that one time. What happens when Magnus accidentally sends his friends from the London institute, to the New York Institute two-hundred years in the future. It's a good thing Magnus has friends at that institute too Will they be able to help in times that are a little more than troubling? What happened to Clary? Set after CoHF and CP2
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, Readers. I've been wanting to write a story like this FOREVER. There aren't enough! For all of you following my other story "City of Angelic Lights" I promise this won't get in the way of its updates. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. If I make any mistakes with the time period, please point them out. I also couldn't find the exact date the Infernal Devices was set in, so if you know it would be greatly helpful. This is set a few months after Clockwork Princess and couple years after City of Heavenly Fire. Have fun reading.**

 **Disclaimer- I do not own TMI or TID Cassandra Clare does...**

 **Magnus Bane- The London Institute in the 1800's**

EVER SINCE HENRY'S MIRACULOUS INVENTION, Magnus, on his own, had been trying to make a portal without any nephilim assistance. Hours reviewing several of Henry's papers that he had nicked from the lab, endless nights with numbers, runes and spells turning like waves in his mind.

It took several months before he figured out. At first he was hesitant stepping through it. It was a miracle that Henry's worked, but this, this was something else entirely. The original version was ingenious. Warlock magic formed it, while the nephilim's runes kept the passengers safe. It was a perfect balance. Only enough magic to make it work, and enough runes to keep it stabilized. Magnus's was a completely different story. His was completely formed out of magic and therefore carried the risk of it going completely awry.

Clenching his teeth and taking a deep breath he stepped through…and after a lot of tossing and turning ended up on the other side of his apartment. Perfect.

Pride filled Magnus, and an easy grin settled on his face. He made his portal again and again going farther distances each time until he was confident his portal could take him any distance. By the time he had finished he was utterly exhausted.

Months later Magnus happened to be perusing around London (he had a certain fondness of the city for the time being) when he noticed a scramble of shadowhunter's running down the street like crazed geese.

Magnus had to restrain himself from laughing. All the poise the Nephilim were notorious for bragging about, certainly wasn't showing now. Faces flushed from the summer heat, eyes wide with panic, and voices babbling hurriedly. Then a voice he recognized right off the bat sounded through the hustle and bustle of London.

"William Herondale, slow down!" He looked to his left and saw poor Tessa rushing down the street in chase of her companions. Lacking the natural stamina from a full blooded shadowhunter, she had sweat running down her face and her breath was wheezing in and out of her lungs. Even with the light weight dress she was wearing, her shoes still had a small heel on them, she never stood a chance.

The group slowed to a stop and amongst them he recognized the faces of Henry, Charlotte, the Herondale and Lightwood siblings and now Tessa as she caught up to them.

Magnus walked towards them, curiosity peeked, just as Charlotte ran a hand down her flushed face. "The first re-signing of the accords since my installment as Consul and I'm going to be late."

Henry laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure if we hurry, we'll be able to slip into the first meeting before anyone notices our absence."

Charlotte gave her husband an exasperated look. "I am the Consul, they can't start the meeting without me. They'll notice."

If possible Henry's face flushed bright enough to compete with the shade of his hair. "Oh.."

Gideon sighed, "Maybe we should wake up some of those automations and have them replace us. They'd be more efficient at their jobs."

"Well, they may be able to replace you, but I highly doubt anything other than a god could replicate myself. Hundreds of demon kills in my pocket, a pivotal part in the defeat of Mortmain, rescuer of damsels in distress." Will winked at Tessa, "I am a true legend and my mysterious disappearance would be a grievous blow to the Clave." He said looking the most relaxed of everybody.

Cecily stepped up. "Well I know what it was like to miss you, and honestly, I sometimes wish I hadn't found you." Will sent her a scathing look, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well I'd have you know-." Will was cut off by Gabriel.

"We don't care, Will! We have bigger problems at the moment. Like trying to explain to the Clave that the Consul was late because her husband caught our kitchen on fire." Gabriel spit.

Henry looked like he had just sucked on a lemon and avoided eye contact with the group. Tessa reached over and pinched Gabriel hard on the arm. "Ow! By the angel, what was that fore!"

"Don't blame this on, Henry. Remind me, how many times did Gideon have to wake you up?" His face flushed red and he didn't answer. "That's what I thought."

Magnus finally let a loud laugh escape and decided to put them out of their misery. "Fine morning, Isn't it shadowhunters? Well, fine for me, looks not to be that way for you. Fear not, I believe I can help you with this situation."

Charolotte looked stunned. "What? How? I'll pay any price."

Magnus gave her a kind look and glanced at Will. "Seeing as you're some of the few Nephilim I find even partly tolerable I believe one free favor won't kill me." Will raised his eyebrows slightly. "Come. Follow me, I will get you to Alicante. Or at least as close as possible."

They followed Magnus back to his small apartment. He led them through the entry room and into his own personal chamber where he had cleared off a wall for the sake of portaling. "Ta da," he said.

"It's a wall," Henry observed.

"Magnus, dear friend, I'm afraid your years are catching up with you." Will said, actually looking exasperated. Tessa on the other hand stayed silent, her gaze darting between the wall and Magnus with interest.

"Clever," she said softly.

Magnus beamed at her. "Somebody has been practicing using their own potential I see. I'm glad you spotted it."

Charlotte looked confusedly between the two warlocks. "Spotted what."

He gave her his best charming, devilish look. "This," he laid his hand on the wall and murmured a soft chant under his breath. The shadowhunters gasped as they saw the swirling blue vortex pooling out on the wall from under his palm.

Henry had grin the size of the Thames on his face. "Is that what I think it is."

"Why yes it is. Took a bit of practice to do it by myself. Rather impressive don't you think? Well you know the drill. Step on through and get to your meeting. On time I dare say."

He waved them on, and with looks of relief plastered on their faces, they stepped through one by one, until the tail of Gideon's coat was no longer visible.

Magnus went to close the portal but before he could it turned a violent red and started sputtering. He hurriedly stepped back, slightly dazed from a great loss of energy, and watched as the portal burst into flames on his wall. With a wave of his hands, the flames were gone along with the portal. He slumped against the adjacent wall exhausted, glaring at where the portal had seem to malfunction.

It was strange. That hadn't happened to any of the other portals.

"I hope that's not going to be a problem….."

 **I hope you enjoyed. Until next time,**

 **FanOfTheWrittenArt~***


	2. Chapter 2

**William Herondale~ The New York Institute 2017**

FRIEND OR NOT FRIEND, WILL WAS GOING TO KILL MAGNUS. Accidentally doing a spell wrong and turning somebody's hair green is one thing. Doing a spell wrong and sending them to some freakishly, outlandish alternate universe is something else entirely.

Going through the portal was rough, like riding a carriage over a gravel rode while simultaneously being swung around by a demon. He was tossing, turning and being flipped around, with no hope of regaining his equilibrium. Then, just his luck, as soon as they were spit out of the portal, he cracked his head against a forsaken table. The groans from his companions told him that they weren't fairing much better…

Will sat up rubbing his head, he looked around his surroundings, and much to his horror discovered it looked _nothing_ like Alicante. Actually, it looked like nothing he had ever seen in his life. He was in some kind of house, it was small but brightly colored with strange devices strewn here and there. They seemed to have landed in the space between a seating area with plush blue couches and the kitchen. Coming from outside, there was a constant hum, and the sound of footsteps hitting the ceiling above his head. The air smelled pleasant though, like candles with an undertone of burnt sugar. Burnt sugar… The smell of magic. Where on earth were they?

He glanced at his friends to assure himself of their well-being. It was safe to say they were all fine for the most part but they seemed to be in as much shock as him. Charlotte was equal parts confused and mortified. Henry and astonished but seemed to be content eye probing all of mechanics around him, not even looking slightly concerned about their situation. Gideon and Tessa looked about, taking surveillance like himself. It made Will slightly proud that, that was her first response. Gabriel wasn't paying much attention to anything aside from the sleeve he was using to staunch his slightly bleeding nose. He must have ended their freefall by kissing the hard wood floor, honestly, as long as he wasn't incapacitated, Will couldn't really care less. Cecily... Fear choked his throat. Where was Cecily?!

Will pushed himself onto all fours, then slightly wobbly got to his feet. "Cecily! Cecily, where the heck are you?!" His heart trembled in his chest slightly, he should have never let her come. What if she portaled hundreds of miles from here? She would be completely on her own in a strange place they knew absolutely nothing about. What if this was some demon realm and she was being massacred with no one to help her? They were only going to a Clave meeting, and she was still so young. They should have just left her at the institute with Sophie, but Will let her pleading get to him and brought her along. She could be dead for all he knew…his little sister. Before his scattered thoughts could take any darker turns, a slight figure sat up from one of the plush sofas that he had his back to

"For God's sake, William, I'm right here. Stop your bloody shouting." Gabriel chortled a little at that, but quickly stopped as it made his nose bleed faster.

A weight lifted off his chest and the breath that was stuck in his throat was released. He slowly sat back down again, with a lighter heart, to weight for the remaining dizziness to subside. Leaning against the table that had dealt him the injury for support. Tessa gave him a quizzical look. "Are you alright, Will? You look a little…disoriented."

"Right as rain, Tess." She looked him over with an unbelieving expression but let it be.

"Where are we? Do you know?" She asked quietly.

"No, but is definitely not Alicante. I went once a long time ago with Charlotte and Henry. I may not remember much, but _this_ , wherever this is, is not it." Will pressed his lips into a hard line. Something just didn't feel right, and Will knew better than to go against his gut, but it looked like they didn't have much control of this situation.

Charlotte did a quick head count, like he had done himself and relaxed slightly once everyone was accounted for. "Is everyone alright?" Getting affirmatives from everyone she continued. "Seeing as this is definitely not where we should be, and not someplace we have ever even seen before, our first step should be to figure out our exact location." Will wanted to roll his eyes. That was already obvious, but he could see Charlotte was trying to gather her thoughts and held back the snarky comment he was dying to make. "- this is some kind of residence and whoever it is, I assume, were most probably noy expecting guests. We need to leave before -" She was cut off as one of the doors to the room they were in, was thrown open.

An agitated cat went scampering across the room and over Will's lap, making him jolt a bit. The part that really gave Will a good shock, though, was the man who made an entrance after the cat. A very, _shimmery,_ Magnus Bane stepped out of the room after his pet. His eyes were bleary from sleep and he was dressed in the most atrocious attire he had ever seen. Leather trousers, a canary yellow tunic, with a powder blue vest and no shoes.

He looked completely baffled for a minute before understanding flittered across his face. "Oh," he said voice still raspy with sleep. "This explains a lot…"

Five minutes later they were all seated around Magnus's den, with cups of bitter coffee in their hands. Well, everyone excluding Cecily, she had promptly taken one sip of hers before spewing it onto Henry's shirt. Magnus swiftly replaced her drink with something called cocoa and Henry's shirt with tight cherry-red one that he looked highly uncomfortable in.

Once everyone was mostly situated, it was surprisingly Henry that got to the point. "Mr. Bane, what on earth is going on? Actually if you could just tell us _where_ on earth we were that would answer a lot of questions!"

Magnus took a long draught from his coffee and rubbed his eyes, before setting his cup on the table. "First, I need a question of my own answered before I can even begin to figure this out. When was the last time you saw me?"

Charlotte looked baffled. "Just a few moments ago. You opened the portal for us to get to Idris?

He looked thoughtful before nodding his head. "As I thought. Well I can assure you this isn't Idris or anywhere near Alicante for the matter."

Will grunted in frustration. "We can obviously see that for ourselves, if you could tell us something we don't already know that would be useful!" He rose out of his place on the couch slightly, but Tessa laid a hand on his shoulder and he lowered back into his seat. This was aggravating him. Will did not like being part of a situation he had no control over and right now Magnus was drawing out answers that would give him more insight as to what even _kind_ of situation they were in. On top of that his head was still throbbing and all he had been able to do for that was apply a sloppy iratze to his forearm. This was not his day.

"If you had any patience, William, I would have gotten to that. As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted," he glared pointedly at Will. "You are nowhere near your destination or even your own time period. This is the twenty-first century my friends. Welcome."

They all gave him blank looks of disbelief. Even Gabriel's bloody face revealed he was waiting for this to be the butt of a bad joke. "What?" Tessa asked from beside him. "What, are you talking about Magnus?"

Magnus gave them sympathetic looks. "Well, you see, this is the year 2017, and I remember the day I sent you through that portal very clearly. I felt as if something had happened and I remember the first time I saw you when you got back from Idris, you acted slightly peculiar. I never truly thought much of it, though. My portal must have formed a little differently, for whatever reason, and instead of dropping you off in Alicante, left you hear instead."

Again Henry beat everyone to the point. Who would have thought he could take charge? "Well how do you make a portal to send us back?" He looked at the warlock warily.

He winced a little bit, and gave a lack-luster laugh. "I don't know."

Gabriel gave Magnus a look that showed all of the frustration that Will was feeling. "What do you mean you don't know?"

Magnus raised his hands defensively. "I told you I never thought much of it. From what I understand now, all I can think of is I must have missed a word or phrase in the spell. Even mistakenly added one. Until I figure out which word it was and how to reverse it, your stuck here. Luckily, I remember you coming back from that trip. Meaning I must at some point figured it out. Just give me time."

Gideon who had been mostly quiet until this time stepped in. "So we are just stranded here until this mess gets taken care of?"

Magnus wined again. "Well… not _here_ exactly."

Charlotte gave him a dry look, "what do you mean?" He raised his hand and put it against his temple rubbing it harshly, cat eyes twinkling from the light, just barely starting to pour in through the windows.

"I can't exactly house seven shadowhunters without someone noticing, and you guys won't exactly blend in with the time period. Also I highly doubt it will go well if the Clave finds out of your presence here, so the best thing I can think of is to keep you hidden in plain sight. Again, the good news is that a dear friend mine who should be willing to help us."

Tessa's gray eyes twinkled in exasperated amusement. "I am afraid to ask…"

Magnus gave her a wink before exiting the room, and telling them to glamour themselves.

Walking down the streets of what is apparently future New York was overwhelming, to say the least. Towers miles high raised above the ground and cast gray shadows onto the streets. They were so high and so plentiful you could only see cracks of the sky. Machines, Magnus called cars, zipped down roads, twice the speed of any horse, in a rainbow of colors and shapes.

People were more scantily dressed in these times as well, he noticed. Girls wore trousers and tunics, like men. Some didn't even have sleeves, but seeing as it was winter, he did not see many wearing that particular style. Digital gadgets littered the city, Magnus tried to explain what they were and what each did; but there were so many he couldn't go into detail of them all. They were all very complex and strangely fascinating. If this was how Henry always saw the world, then Will could understand why he spaced out so much.

Speaking of Henry, he was in heaven. He had not spoken more than a few words, purely happy to drink it all in and only make the occasional inquiry. Everyone else seemed to be the same way, just drinking in as much of this strange world as they could. Seeing as they wore glamours, except for Magnus and Tessa, they were free to be as shocked and mystified, without attracting the attention of the public, as they wished. Tessa seemed especially curious, understandably so seeing as she had lived here once upon a time. He would need to speak with her later to see how well she was handling everything.

They walked several more blocks on foot, following the paved paths, until arriving at a building that strongly resembled a church.

An Institute, Will mused, he wondered if it would be as different as the rest of the world, or still hold the air of immortality that the nephilim always seemed to carry. It certainly appeared so from the outside, but the interior could always hold more secerets.

Magnus strutted to the door poised to knock, but Tessa stopped him. "I thought you said that the Clave finding out about us would be bad?"

He sighed and turned to face them. "I have made friends with very few shadowhunter throughout the ages, you being some of those few. The shadowhunters of the New York institute, have also been some of the sole few included in those numbers. I believe most of them are attending business in Idris at the moment, but one especially close to me remains here. She will not hand you over to the Clave unjustly and will be mindful of your odd circumstance." He looked Charlotte straight in the eye. "She reminds me a lot of you. The more time you spend here the more everything will make sense. You cannot learn everything you need to know in one day, but simply being here will help you adjust." Magnus whirled around and wrapped quickly on the door.

After waiting what seemed like eons, Will heard locks clicking from the other side. The doors finally pushed open to reveal a small, but very pregnant women, with hair the color of embers…

 **Hey there, Dear readers! Chapter two is finally here! Thank you all for the comments and follows/favorites they all mean a lot to me! I notice that my sentences tend to be rather long, so if you think one rambles please tell me. Feel free to point out any spelling errors or grammatical mistakes. It's good for me! I hope you guys liked this chapter. I made it a bit longer just for you ;).**

 **Jace 5000- I'm really glad you think it's fun! I was hoping it would be, haha. As for all of your other question you'll have to read to fine out. ;)**

 **ShadowAngel100- I agree! Having them in the same room makes me cringe for poor Tessa and Clary. I have an idea doing something similar to that later on, but your right it would be funny!**

 **ZaraRiverSong- Thanks!**

 **Guest 1- Here it is! I hope it lived up to your expectations! Lol. I love time travel fics too but there aren't many of them!**

 **Guest 2- Spoiler alert! I may sound crazy but I have been space my reading. I haven't read the Bane Chronicles or Shadowhunter Academy yet. I am soon, but I wanted something to read while waiting for Lady Midnight and the Sequel for that to come out. I don't think I could handle the "after book blues" if I read them all at once! :'D**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, Dear Readers. It's that time again. Thank you guys so much for reading, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **A shout out to my new, and incredibly wonderful beta reader- HeronFrayWood - You're the best!**

 **Disclaimer- I realized one morning when I woke up, that I had only dreamed that I owned The Mortal Instruments. Sigh...**

 **Tessa Gray/Herondale**

A small girl, with bright red hair opened the doors of the Institute. Her arms were littered with the scars of runes and she was wearing some kind of black, stretchy trousers and a loose blouse that was splattered with paint. Even though she was slight of frame and obviously pregnant, she gave off the air of power. It also helped that in her right hand she held a graceful yet deadly looking sword, and had a steele stuck in the waistband of her pants. It was clear that despite her condition, she was ready for a fight.

Her green eyes darted from face to face, pausing on Tessa and Will's for a moment, before landing on Magnus. Posture relaxing slightly, she flashes a small smile and leaned her sword against the door frame. It shocked Tessa, that she would be so relaxed in the presence of a downworlder and a huddle of complete strangers. Resting a hand on her hip, the girl raised her other in greeting. "Hey, Magnus." And to her great surprise the girl looked right at her. "Tessa, it's great to see you again. Where's Zachariah? Last I saw you both, you were heading off to tour Greece together." She smiled at the group in whole. "And who are your friends?"

Tessa just stood there in shock. How did this girl know her? They were hundreds of years in the future and Zachariah…Her mind halted and it hit her like a sword to the chest. After spending so much time in the institute, it was easy to forget that she was part warlock. Immortal. Never dying. This girl probably did know her, yet not exactly her, but the version of herself that she would be in the future. What did she mean about Zachariah, though?

Tessa stopped herself there. It was not a good time to go down that road. Jem was a silent brother and that is irreversible. Condemned to a life a runes and shadows, with only occasional excursions into the sun.

The girl seeming slightly perturbed at Tessa's response, turned the fullness of her attention back to Magnus, lips turned down in a frown. "Is everything alright? What's going on?"

Magnus took a step up to meet her in the doorway and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Biscuit. You look absolutely stunning. The little angels' getting bigger I see?"

The girl's face darkened. "I literally just saw you the day before last, I'm not that much bigger. What's wrong?"

He cleared his throat, actually looking a bit nervous, his cat eyes stayed solely on her. "Well, it's a bit of a long story. I promise to explain everything to you in just a moment, but first, would you mind hosting a few friends of mine until I can get everything sorted out?"

"The Institute is obligated to house any shadowhunter who needs it. You know that, Magnus. Besides, Jace and the others don't get home until Wednesday and I could use some company." Her expression softened again. "Though I do expect you to come inside and tell me what's happening. I hope you know that. Also, don't you dare for one second to think of lying to me."

"Of course," Magnus's eye brows raised and he gave her a serious look. "All of them are in Idris? I know Alexander and Jace went, but not even Stewart stayed behind with you? You are completely by yourself? Clary, I find it hard to believe they would be willing to put you in that position."

So the girl's name was Clary. It was different but seemed to suit her well. Tessa felt like she was intruding on a private conversation, but her curiosity was definitely peeked. She glanced at Will, and he was avidly watching Clary's and Magnus's exchange, not even glancing in her direction.

"With the Clave trying the sort out the faerie situation, we needed as many voices on the council as possible. Someone had to stay behind with the Institute, though, and seeing as I probably couldn't make it through all of the meetings, I was the best candidate. Besides, my mother and Luke have been stopping by so I haven't been completely alone and it was only for the week."

His eyes squinted. "Still… It's not entirely safe. Anyways, we should head inside so I can explain everything and get to work. First, though, let me introduce you to your new house guests." Magnus made a grand gesture with his hands in their direction, "Clary, these are my friends from the London Institute of the mid 1800's." He swept his hands toward Clary. "Friends, this is Clarissa Herondale, head of the New York Institute."

Everyone excluding Magnus was in shock. Tessa swiveled her head around to look at Will, only to find him looking like he had been punched in the throat by a ghost. No one seemed to know what to say, so they just stood like ice sculptures in the brisk New York wind.

Clary blinked out of the stupor first. She shook her head and pulled the Institute's door open further with a paint smeared hand. Giving a look to Magnus that made him know she meant business, she pointed a finger inside. "Come in, we need to have that talk now."

The inside of the Institute was strikingly different, but still carried the air of longevity that her home always seemed to have. They had gone up something Magnus called an "elevator." It was a carpeted metal box that was supposed to save them the effort of going up stairs, by raising them to the next floor mechanically. According to Clary, theirs was in desperate need of repair. She had explained this to them while aggressively hitting the button panel a couple times to make the elevator keep moving. By the time they got upstairs, Tessa was feeling woozy from the shaky ride.

Arriving at the second story was more relaxing. It had lost the cold vibe the lower floor had carried and felt more home like. It was a circular carpeted room with a few couches, a fireplace, and stained glass windows. Directly in front of them was the entrance to a kitchen, and on either side of that were two separate staircases. This room seemed very unlived in, but warm nonetheless.

"This is the foyer," Clary announced. "We don't really spend much time in here. Usually we drift between the training room, kitchen, library and each other's personal rooms."

"We?" Charlotte asked.

"My husband and our family," she explained. "My husband and I run the institute and his sister, and my parabatai live here with us. They should be back in a couple of days, a situation has come up and a meeting was called in Idris to find a resolution. That should give us enough time to get you settled in, before you're hit with the wave of excitement that tends to come when our family is together." Clary gave them a wink. "To the right up the stairs, are the bedrooms. Feel free to go and pick anyone that doesn't look lived in. Up the stairs to the left, is the training room, weapons room, and the library. Last but not least, in front of you is the kitchen, where Magnus and I will be talking. Feel free to wander and explore at your leisure, no one is here but us." She gave them one last small smile, before grabbing their warlock companion by the wrist, and dragging him into the kitchen.

As soon as the last flittering of glitter, and wisp of red hair vanished from eye sight, it felt like a silence rune had been taken off. "Herondale. Little Lady Ginger, is a Herondale." Will put a hand to his head like he was feverish. "Which one of my grandsons became mentally ill and fell for a leprechaun? There's no other explanation for such a strange creature."

Gabriel scoffed. "She's married, you fool. Herondale is her taken name, she's not a blood relative. Though it alludes me as to why anyone would want to be associated with that blood line. No offense, Tessa. It's not hard to fall for the charm of those no better than demons."

"Insulting my family's blood line? Is that the best you could do? You must have quite a lot to say on that matter, Lightworm. I will let your insults go this one time, because it is not only my pride that has been insulted, nor my own folly that I have assured. On the other hand, I would move if I were you." Gabriel turned just in time to get a face full of Cecily's fist. His nose, which Magnus had only fixed a small while ago, cracking on impact and dripping beads of scarlet onto the burgundy rug. Cecily opened and closed her mouth as if to speak, but instead turned on her heel and raced up the right hand staircase. Tessa's hand flew to her mouth and Will stifled a chuckle.

"You should feel my pride. It's overwhelming. I taught her how to throw a punch you know? How'd I do?" Gabriel gave Will a seething look, before chasing after Cecily with a hand clutched over his bleeding nose.

Will had a grin that could make the devil seem humble. "I fear for my sister sometimes, but I feel that proved to be useless. Hard to believe though that he forgot Cecily is my sister…" He shook his head in utter enjoyment. "Now I believe that we should go see what the others are discussing. It looks important." He said gesturing to their companions that had been so deep in conversation, that their scuffle had gone un-noticed. Will offered Tessa his arm and she gladly took.

"Oh, William,"

As it turned out, that said conversation had been important but ended up going nowhere quickly. All of their problems, and they had many, were completely out of their control. Basically, the only decision they had been reached was that putting their faith in Clary and Magnus was the best chance they had at getting home.

"So, we are just going to do nothing?" Gideon spoke seemingly despairing.

"Quite the contrary." Charlotte raised both her hands in surrender. "We are doing the only thing we can do at the moment. They may need our assistance sooner or later and when that time comes, we will be ready. Until then, we wait."

Henry rested his hand on her shoulder. "Charlotte and I are going to go find rooms for everyone. We want everyone to stick as close together as possible. You can all explore while we do that. Get an idea of our temporary residence." It was very odd seeing Henry in an authoritative position and not wrapped up, tinkering with some new device. It was both pleasant and unnerving. Like watching a shadow dance without its owner. It wasn't something you ever thought you'd see.

After talking about a few more trivial matters, Charlotte and Henry departed, while Gideon went off to find Gabriel, leaving Tessa and Will to explore. They ventured up the stairs opposite to the ones Cecily stormed up, not wanting to find the mess they were sure she left Gabriel in, to find several hallways. Tessa picked one at random and William followed her, after opening more than a few closet doors, they stumbled across a beautiful set of intricately carved French doors.

Will pushed them open and held it open after giving her a steep bow. "After you, Tess."

"Ever the gentleman, William. If only it weren't an act or you may be a functional member of society yet." She smiled and grabbed his arm, taking Will through the door with her.

Inside was a library, not as large and grand as the one in London, but beautiful nonetheless. There were two levels, tall cathedral ceilings and stained glass windows. Flush against the walls were shelves of books and dancing through the air was the hum of piano music. In the center of the room was a small seating area. Three pale gold couches sat facing each other and a beautiful but cluttered mahogany table made was the center piece.

They both wandered off in different directions, and Tessa was running her fingers over the spine of a book in the demonology section when Will called her over.

"Tess, come look at this." In his hand was a leather bound book that he had picked up off the mahogany table. It was flipped open from the top and he was running his fingers across the pages tenderly before carefully flipping to the next. Will slumped into one of the padded yellow seats and motioned for him to join her.

She sat next to him, as he ran his long fingers down one more page before closing it and pressing it into her hands. The cover was a soft, worn leather and the rings holding it together at the top were thick. On the front was the Herondale family crest and the name, Clarissa Herondale.

"Will! This is Clary's and it looks personal, you shouldn't be looking through it." Tessa stood to put the book back where it had originally been. He stood up as fast as a flash and grabbed her before she could go any further.

"Yes, it is personal, but not the kind of book you think it is, though. Believe me, I would have no interest in reading some girls diary." Tessa gave him a very dry look at that. "Well, not anymore. Just look in the bloody book!"

Tessa ran a finger across the monogram, then flipped the cover open to the first page. In a sharp elegant script was a note scrawled down the first page.

Clary,

A gift for our anniversary. That we may never get so caught up in the politics of our world, that we forget the small things we love.

Forever and until the life after,

JACE-

So her husband's name was Jace? Tessa took a mental note and stored that in her head for later. It seemed that both Will, and his many greats grandson, shared a similar gift for words. Gently thumbing to the next page, the sight that caught Tessa's eye took her breath away.

It was a drawing. A man with golden hair that curled around his face, sitting arched over a grand piano obviously immersed into the music that he was playing. Black runes were painted on his arms so numerously it looked like lace, and the way the sunlight was hitting him from the stained glass window, made them stand out in a harsh but beautiful way. Along with the obvious marks of a shadowhunter, were white wings sprouted from the player's back and framing him as if her were an angel in full glory. Tagged under the amazing portrait, was obviously a note from Clary herself.

I promise I won't, if you promise me too-

Forever and until the life after….

 **I apologize to anyone who tried to read this chapter and found it all coded. I have no idea why it was doing that, but hopefully I've solved the issue. If it spammed your email while I was trying to fix it I am SO sorry!**

 **Thank you guys so much for reading! I can't believe all of the Favorites/Follows I've gotten on only the first two chapters! I hope this lived up to your standards (another shout out to HeronFrayWood for without whom this would never have been as good as I hope it is. :D Seriously, guys, she's great!) The note Jace left Clary was a reference to COHF when they were discussing how Clary had stopped her art in midst of all the chaos with Sebastian. Sorry if that was a little confusing. :P**

 **To the Wonderful People Who Left Comments On the Precious Chapter~***

 **Guest 2- (That's your name now ;) ) Lol! It's no problem! I'm actually surprised I hadn't stumbled across it yet. Now that you've mentioned it, I suddenly see lots of people talking about it and I never noticed. Ha! I am oblivious sometimes. :P I'm so glad you like the story, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much. :D**

 **ZaraRiverSong- I'm happy you like it! Thank you so much for reading and leaving me a review!**

 **yannieXD- Thanks and I will hopefully have another chapter up soon ;)**

 **\- Thank you and I will try my hardest XD**

 **Crazyfangirl101- That's good. ;) I want the readers to feel that they are "in the know" for the moment. That way, when I do start twisting things, up it's more of a surprise. Mwahaha!**

 **Until next time,**

 **FanOfTheWrittenArt~***


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello, Dear Readers! Sorry my update is a bit late, but I made it extra- long just for you! So without further procrastination… I present to you a chapter by our favorite Herondale. Enjoy!**

 **(Proof read by the greatest beta ever- HeronFrayWood)**

 **Disclaimer- If you think I own MI or TID I'll be flattered, but you should do some research because your dead wrong. Cassandra Clare gets the credit.**

Jace Herondale- Idris 2016

If someone thought New York traffic was insane, they should attend on of these meeting. Jace was sitting among fellow Clave members, listening to them bite at each other's throats during a meeting in which they were supposed to be coming up with a solution to the faerie problem. Some fool had suggested a full out war, and you could imagine how well the Clave received that. After watching the Consul and the Inquisitor, who was also his stepfather, try and fail to control the madness, he decided to wait to say his piece.

Isabelle, Alec, and Simon took his lead and sat in stark silence beside him. People were yelling, threats were flying, and anger was soaring. A man was shoved in the chest, a couple of daggers were flashed menacingly. They watched on as things got progressively more heated, until he jumped when suddenly something long and silver flew by his ear. Alec leaped from his seat, too, grabbing his ear. Jace saw his hand come away wet with drops of scarlet blood, and that's when he got angry. This lunacy needed to end.

He stood in his seat and brandished his seraph blade. "Nakir," he murmured, and the blade glowed to life with angelic power. That action in itself drew several people away from their arguments, but that wasn't enough, he was done with this. In a wide arc he raised the blade over his head, and brought it down in a sliding motion against the floor.

The screeching noise that followed caused the people closest to him to clutch their ears, and those farther away to flinch. It got everyone's attention, though. With a droll look he glared at the crowd. "I came here for a meeting. If you all are just going to fight each other like crazed animals over a hunk of meat, then I, for one, am going home." Those that were arguing sat down like admonished children, and those like himself, who had just been caught in the chaos, looked grateful.

Robert, his step father, slumped into his chair, and Consul Penhallow did the same albeit more poised. "Thank you, Mr. Herondale. Please take your seats, and shall we go about this in a more civilized manner?" She looked around the room, and when the silence continued, took it as an affirmative. "Thank you. Now I suggest we recap the problem at hand and then go over the possible solutions. Once we find one that seems most agreeable to everyone, then we shall proceed from there. Inquisitor Lightwood, would you mind reading us some of the reports again?"

"Yes, Consul." Robert reached over and grabbed a small stack of papers from the seat behind him, and started reading from the top most one. "Demonic and downworlder activities report, January 30, of 2016, the Institute of Cairo Egypt. A large increase in demon sighting and reported demonic activity have been seen within the last month. Multiple attacks have also occurred and a total of 13 mundane deaths have been recorded. In addition to a rise in demonic activity, a group of our Nephilim were patrolling an area the local lycanthrope pack had sighted several rooms, and were ambushed by several fae. Four of our own were badly injured and the rest were incapacitated. No deaths amongst us, but several of our seraph blades, locators, and steles have been taken. We ask for temporary assistance until we have recouped from injuries, and a new supply of weapons." He shuffled to the next paper.

"Demonic and downworlder activities report, March 3, 2016, the Institute of Rome, Italy. A massive surge in demonic activities within a week's time period, an influx of at least thirty percent. A supposed greater demon sighting, as of now unconfirmed. Multiple of the fair folk have been caught lurking around the Institute and multiple have been spotted watching from afar during hunts. This interaction is unusual as the fae in our area have until now preferred to keep to themselves. We as of this time do not know what their intentions are."

Robert read off reports from at least six more major institutes reporting the same problems. A large influx of demonic activity, followed or preceded by strange or aggressive behavior from the fae. Jace himself had filed one of those reports. The amount of demon nests they had discovered lately was alarming, and not only that, but the week before last, Alec and Isabelle had been ambushed by faeries during a hunt. Luckily having heard of the strange reports before then, Isabelle had been intuitive enough to keep a bag of bronze dust on her. They had managed to get away with minor injuries, but could not figure out what the goal behind the attack was.

After that Lily, the head of the local vampire clan, and Maia both reported fae lurking around the Dumort and the Jade Wolf. With all of the strange things happening, he had been reluctant to leave Clary back in New York alone, but someone had to stay with the institute and they had one of the largest influenced regarding downworlder rights, so it was imperative that as many of them attended this meeting as possible. Jace hoped she was doing all right, he would have to send her a fire message after today's meeting was over.

Jace's attention snapped back to Robert after he had read the last of the reports. "We believe that the strange faerie behavior is a side effect of the spike in demon numbers. It is common knowledge that there are several entrances to the demon realms through the faeries kingdom," Jace cringed at the thought of Edom and the horrible parallel universe they had just barely escaped. "Due to the eradication of the fae's rights to bear arms, we believe the attacks on Nephilim were an attempt to gain weapons. A majority of the demons will be passing through their lands on their way to the surface, so it is understandable they would feel the need to defend themselves. We need to figure out a way to reduce the flow of demons, which by cause and effect, should also solve the faerie problem."

The head of the Mexico City instituto, Jorge Fortaleza, Jace thought his name was, stood. His tanned face was lined with stress and his dark hair was mostly gray despite only being in his early fifties. There was a dark, shattered look in his eyes, and when he rose up from his seat, the shadowhunters around him shied back.

"What are you implying? That the fae are the victims in this? You want to portray them as innocent by standards? That is ludicrous! They are a part of the problem. Sightings of the fae have been noted in the exact same places these demons have also been reported gathering in multiple locations. If they were so innocent, they would be trying to avoid them! Not stalking them. Besides our whole mission, our mandate, our whole life's purpose, is to reduce the flow of demons in this world. Don't you think if there were a way, we would have done it by now!" The man's voice rose with every sentence of his speech, his English becoming less and less perfect.

Alec stood, and raised a hand in a calming gesture. "The Fair Folk are the same as any other downworlder. They are still in possession of their souls and deserve the same reasonable respect we'd treat any other warlock, vampire, or Nephilim with. There have been a few isolated attacks from the fair folk, and demonic activity has been on the rise for decades now. If you are implying that the faeries are in league with the demons, that is a massive stretch with no definable proof behind it."

"You don't understand!" Jorge clutched the back of his head in his hands. "Forget it, you don't understand. Believe me now, though, they deserve war. Remember not to forget who sided against us when the endarkened were knocking on our doors."

Many people started up at that. Some in agreement and others appalled at the suggestion, others just insulted that he'd brought up what was still such a fresh wound. Jace himself was trying to find a way to redirect the Clave from this topic, at this point things were looking bleaker and bleaker. It was out of bounds for the Clave to restrain the faeries in the way that they did. Yes, it was a despicable thing that they allied themselves with Sebastian, but they were under orders of their queen. There are hundreds of other faerie queens and kings, that follow totally different sets of rules, and others that are simply harmless loners. To punish all faeries for the mistakes of one misguided group, was dishonorable. That was why him and the others were here, to try and get the Clave to absolve the unjust restrictions set against them. It doesn't look like that would happen anytime soon.

The Consul stood and whistled loudly. "We are not going to resolve back into this argument. I think we all need a break, so that we can come back later and provide more calm, rational opinions. Be back here by three o'clock. Go." Jace and the others filed out of the Guard and decided to head back to Herondale Manor.

It was several miles outside of Idris, and on the other side of the hill from Wayland Manor. When Stephen died, the Clave had given the deed to the house to Imogen, and that was where she lived until she was killed. After that the Clave had simply intended to sell it to anyone wishing for a house in Idris, but once the discovery was made that Jace was a Herondale, the deed was immediately passed onto him.

Him and Clary thought about moving there, but soon after getting the deed, Maryse announced her retirement, and Robert recommended them to the Consul as the new heads of the Institute. They jumped on that offer, but decided to keep the manor as a place for them and their family to stay when on business in Alicante. It took a couple of weeks to get it cleaned up, but now it was once again a grand estate.

They walked the streets to the stables, and found their horses already tacked. When they got the manor, Jace had also taken the liberty of buying several more horses, and paying for their maintenance for when they were gone. It was a worthwhile investment due to the fact that the manor was so distanced from the town, and riding saved them an abundance of time. Mounting Wayfarer gracefully, he guided the horse towards the stable doors, and watched the other do the same. Alec's horse was a midsized, bay stallion, named Huntsman. Izzy and Simon shared one, as they had found Simon to be a less than competent rider even after several lessons. So he watched his sister mount the tall palomino mare, which Izzy had mistakenly given Simon the honor of naming her, Daylighter.

"Come on, Simon. Hurry up," Izzy harshly encouraged.

"I can't get a good grip on the thing." Simon pathetically struggled to get a purchase on the horse, but kept slipping off.

Izzy removed one of her feet from the stirrups. "Place your right foot in that and swing your left leg over," she held out a hand to give him more stability as he got his foot in the stirrup. "Now just swing your left leg…" Simon made it halfway up before his leg couldn't go any higher and he slipped off the saddle again.

Nudging his horse forward, as Simon tried to mount yet again, Jace nimbly grabbed him by the belt and hauled him the rest of the way up. "There you go, Rat Face. All better?" Simon just gave him a seething look as he got into position on the saddle.

As they were about to leave the stables, Jace saw one horse left in their section, and on second thought turned back to grab its reins. He was a squatty brown paint, named Michelangelo. When they had been looking for their horses, he had been the only one Clary was even slightly comfortable with riding by herself. Most likely because he was so short, but since he was a sturdy thing from a good bloodline Jace had no problem with him. Jace secured Michelangelo's reins to the horn of his saddle, and spurred the horses to catch up with the others.

Simon chuckled as he rode up. "That is still the wimpiest horse I have ever seen, but I can understand why Clary likes it."

Izzy scrunched her nose. "I don't. The horse's legs are too short, in an emergency situation that horse would never be able to keep up with the rest."

"Clary's short and she keeps up just fine," Alec mused. "Besides, now that Sebastian is gone, the odds of Idris going back under a state of emergency again is highly unlikely. Or at least so improbable that we would not see it in our lifetime."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. After all, us being so confident in our wards is what allowed them to be taken down in the first place. We let him slip in right under our nose." Jace maneuvered his horse next to Alec's. "We spend too much time pouring over problems. Past problems, present problems, future problem, and then preparing for them all! Life is too short to be so stressed. I say we have a little fun, while we can." Alec saw the twinkled in Jace's eye, and the corner of his lip turned up. He could always trust that they'd be on the same page.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt just this once," Alec said with false reluctance.

Before they could protest Jace tossed Michelangelo's reins to Izzy, who out of reflex caught them. "See you at the manor." Her eyebrows rose up in alarm, but it was too late, Jace and Alec were already racing yards ahead of them.

He could feel hooves pounding like the beat of a drum below him and see flying dirt marking their trail as the horse's heels turned up the soft ground. The wind stung his face pleasantly and the sun warmed his back, while his heart matched the steady pulse of Wayfarer's breaths. Jace leaned forward, standing slightly in his saddle for stability as Wayfarer powered on and a surge of adrenaline raced through him. He looked to the side to see Alec mimicking his posture and grinning like a fool. It was a rare moment. Everything to look forward to and nothing to chain them back. The countryside was open to them and he and Alec tore across it like a whip through the air.

Jace let a loud laugh rise from his through, in his unusual moment of jubilee and Alec feeding off that emotion, laughed with him. They felt like kids again, at the institute racing through the halls with wooden swords. It had been too long since he and his parabatai had just been able to have fun together like the brothers they were. In perfect unison they took a sharp turn, sending chunks of dirt and grass into the air like earthy rain, and raced up the side of the hill. The manor was in sight and they urged the horses faster yet. Finally, when they were within a couple hundred yards from the house, they gently eased into a slower trot and lapped the house once to help the beasts cool down.

When they reached the front doors of the manor, their throats were raw and they had stitches in their side from laughter. "Okay. That was fun, I'll admit it." Alec dismounted with shaky legs, and a happy disposition.

Jace jumped off Wayfarer with minimal effort, and shook Alec playfully by the shoulder. "Izzy is going to murder us, there's no chance she would've been able to catch up. Not with the added weight of an extra passenger and a horse with nubby legs, she was right, that thing is slow. It was worth it, though." Jace chuckled and took Huntsman's reins from Alec. "If you want to heat up our lunch, I'll put the horses up."

"Why? So you can hide from our sister, and let me take the brunt of her wrath?"

Jace scoffed. "No, I just want someone to get out lunch, before Isabelle gets the chance to put her hands on it. I have a wife and kids to think about now, I can't die from food poisoning." He pursed his lips as if in thought. "Although, now that you think about it, leaving you to her clutches doesn't sound like such a bad idea." Jace quickly turned his back and started leading the horses to their little barn.

"Whatever. I don't agree with this, but I concede that she should not be allowed to touch our food," Alec grumbled as he shuffled through the front door.

Jace lead the horses to the side of the manor where a small stable was set up. He shoved aside the door and the smell of hay assaulted his senses. It wasn't large inside. Four stalls, a small room for tack and hay, with a circular window letting light in above the door. Jace had also hauled a small desk inside, as he enjoyed working in here, it helped him to relax and concentrate.

Beside each stall door was a green concrete pillars, where he took the horses and tied each to their own post. After that, he pulled the saddle and blanket off of a Wayfarer, Jace set them on the stall door, then grabbed a brush and got to work; running the brush against the stallion's coat until most of the dust was off, and the horse was hanging his head, seemingly pleased with the attention it was receiving. Once Jace was done tending to Wayfarer, he led the horse into his stall and tossed him a flake of hay. He moved on to give Huntsman the same treatment. Jace clapped the dirt off his hands, happy with how the horses were situated, he went and pulled up a chair at his desk.

Dozens of papers were strewn across it, some with ominous titles like DELICATE INFORMATION or READ NOW, but Jace pushed them all aside. He reached into a drawer and pulled out a glossy picture. It was black with streaks of gray, and the definable outline of two small babies. Running a finger across the picture, a smile graced his face, along with a flush of pride. Clary had an ultrasound done by mundane doctors before he left, so that he would have a picture to take with him. They don't know the genders, but the silent brothers and mundane doctors assured them that they were strong and healthy. Jace's only concern was Clary. His children were doing great, positively thriving even, but it was taking a heavy toll on her. She was seven months pregnant and very small. Her energy was lacking, and because she was getting so big, insignificant things like stars were beginning to prove too hard. Not to mention the stress of running the Institute alone. It killed Jace to leave her while she was like that, but he had no choice.

Pulling a loose paper off of his desk, Jace began to jot down a letter. He tried to fit as much information as he could cram onto the page, then once no more space was left, Jace signed Clary's name at the bottom, and used his stele to place a rune upon it. The paper immediately started to smolder and swiftly withered to flames in the palm of his hand before disappearing entirely. Leaving only a spoon full of ashes to drift like falling birds to the ground.

A door slammed from outside. "You are so dead!" He heard the muffled sounds of arguing and smelt something very similar to smoke.

 **Hey, there! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that it brought a little excitement to the dull monotony of whatever class your reading this during. (Pay attention in school, kiddies. It's not like I'm posting this during math or anything...) I've decided that the main POV's are going to be Will, Tessa, Jace and Clary, with occasional blurps from Magnus and Jem. They will be the main protagonists, and so using their POV's will keep up with the thick of the action. Also tell me what was your favorite part of this chapter was! :D Personally, I loved writing the Jace and Alec brotherly fun scene. Because really, who doesn't love them? If you have any questions on the story, or spot an error of any sort, constructive criticism is always welcome!  
**

 **Until next time,**

 **FanOfTheWrittenArt~***

 **DodgersMutant-** Thank you so much! These are two of my favorites too, and I've been dying to write this forever. It makes me glad to hear that you like it! :D

 **Shuuwai-** The letter was a spur of the moment addition, and I'm glad you thought it was cute! Lol. I'm dragging all of the meetings for a purpose. ;) You'll see.

 **Jadiza Lillian Potter-** Thanks! Also the next update should be pretty soon, I already have a quarter of the next chapter written.

 **Paigetamai-** Your comment made my day! I've been stressing over making sure that this all made sense, and you saying that made me so ecstatic! Thank you so much!

 **To the Two Guests-** Thank you! Don't worry. Jem will be coming in very soon!


	5. Chapter 5

Clary Herondale~*

 _I'll be home soon…_

 _Jace-_

Clary read that sentence once more carefully, before nimbly folding the paper and tucking it into the drawer of her desk. She sighed, leaning on her elbows and massaging the dark circles she knew were forming under her eyes. It was getting late, and Magnus had just left her with a house full of strange guests, disturbing news, and a whole lot of stress.

Her mind was a tornado of confusing thoughts and problems with no solutions, so she took a leaf out of Jace's book before beginning to pick a part her troubles. First step was to assess the situation. Taking a deep breath, Clary laid her problems out in front of her. Jace and the rest of their family is in Idris, the faeries are going out of control, her home is full of strangers, and she didn't want to deal with any of these things because she's moody, pregnant and tired.

Clary let her head flop on the table. Now solutions. Her family will be back in a few days. Jace told her in his letter that it would be best not to leave the institute while she was in this state, so hopefully there would be no dealings with the faeries until he came back. Magnus is working on a way to get the strangers home, until then, she just had to keep them comfortable and hope they behaved themselves. Lastly she's not allowed to have coffee, but ice cream with honey sounded like a good temporary band aid to the moody, pregnant tired part. It was a very vague plan, but it was better than the nothing she had before. Besides, Jace's method was probably better suited for people with OCD anyway.

Picking herself up off the desk, Clary decided that it would probably be best check on her guests and get them settled, before pigging out,

Wobbly, she got up from her chair, using the back to steady herself. Her children began protesting the sudden disturbance, by kicking her ribs in protest. Each jab feeling like a sharp pinch in her side.

When the babies had first started moving around, and flailing their little feet, Clary had been overjoyed, after a few weeks though it became apparent that they took after Jace. Now their kicks were actually pretty strong, and could make her pretty sore, that and they _never_ lacked energy. She never would never have guessed that children who weren't even out of the womb yet, could go so long without sleeping.

Rubbing her stomach, praying to get her children to settle, Clary had barely stepped foot out of her room when a fast moving figure plowed into her. The force sent her stumbling back a few steps, but luckily, not off her feet. Clutching the door frame, she saw a young girl with dark, hair and vivid blue eyes. It seemed as if the girl had been in a stupor, but apparently mowing over a pregnant lady had given her a wake up call.

"I'm so sorry. Are you alright?" The girl said eyeing Clary up and down looking extremely apologetic.

"It's all good. No need to be worried. My own patabatai has run into me more than a few times, its nothing serious," she assured the girl. "What's gotten you in a hurry?"

A little bit of mischief creeped into those blue eyes, and a smirk curled up on her face. "Oh, I'm just avoiding a friend of mine. He was being a bit of a nuisance, and I thought it might be good if he sweat a little." She winked. "I thought I heard him coming around the corner, so I rushed down this hall and didn't pay attention to where I was going. My apologies."

Clary laughed. "No harm, no fowl, it was all in the name of a good cause. Your right, sometimes boy's need a reality check and to be kept on their toes. It keeps them young." The girl's grin widened. "I was actually just coming to look for you and your friends. Some things need explaining, and you all look very nice but there is no way you can stay dressed as you are and go unnoticed. I need to see what general size everyone is, so I know which closets I have to _borrow_ from."

"I can help. Where did you say the library was?" The girl asked.

"It's on the other side of the institute. Why" The girl's cheek quirked.

"Well, wherever books are found you are bound to find my brother and Tessa as well. Lead the way, and we can find the rest after."

"Alright then," Clary turned and started leading the way to the stair case. "What did you say your name was, I don't think I caught it?" The girl stepped in front of her and held out a hand.

"Cecily Herondale at your service."

The walk to the library was silent. Cecily lightly jumping from one step to the next, while Clary hunkered along purely hoping that the staircase was shorter than she remembered. With the beat of each step, her twins would sharply thump her on the ribs. Maybe they saw it as encouragement to make it to the top, but to Clary it felt like a slave driver cracking a whip. They were really strong.

Clary had to stop and pause for breath half way up. Cecily gracefully perched on the ledge of a step eight or more up from her, then looked back with concern. "Are you alright?"

Lifting a hand, she waved the girl off. "Perfectly fine, just a little slow."

Steeling her resolve, she pushed herself to keep pace with Cecily. As they neared closer to the library a string of sharp, ungodly noises hit their ears. Clary reached out a pushed the heavy doors to find one of her guests sitting at Jace's piano.

Looking stunningly similar to Alec, the man was sat hunched over the keys. His gaze fluttered between the sheet music and his hands, before carefully trying to press the keys in accordance to the notes. Yet at each attempt the tune came out sour and out of tempo, while his face scrunched up in concentration.

Several unflattering words came of his mouth, and his hands slammed down on the keys. "This infernal instrument! I don't understand why James pushed so hard for me to play it, I've never had the ear for music."

The young Tessa came out from behind a book shelf. "If you hate it so much why are you even sitting at the thing, William?"

William gave her a haughty look. "Because anyone who dismisses learning something without giving it a decent chance, is no better than a fool. James always said I had the hands for it, so I said I would try, and trying I am!" He lined his fingers on the keys again and Tessa just shook her head before returning to browsing the shelves.

The music that he made was something she never wanted to hear again. Wincing at the uneven beat, Clary placed her hands over her ears. "Arch your hands! Don't lay them flat over the keys. Also stop trying to watch your fingers and just focus on the notes.

Seemingly ignoring her, William took her advice and the music that played next was only slightly less atrocious. He looked slightly displeased, but just shrugged his shoulders. "Improvement is improvement, even if it's not much. Thank you for the advice, I take it you're a pianist?"

"No, my husband is, I've learned a little watching him, but not enough to actually play."

"Ah, I see, explains why your advice wasn't better," his eyes rolled, and he looked at the piano miffed.

"William! I can't tell what your more blatantly lacking, musical talent or manners," Tessa snipped half hidden behind a book shelf. She seemed partly transfixed by the conversation and the rest of her seemed occupied by _The Downworlders of Today,_ and _The Accords_ section.

"People say a little bit of both, but I like to think I make up for it in, the art of swordsmanship and charming wit." William chuckled a bit, and twisted the ring on his finger.

"More like alarming fits," a tall man with rumpled brown hair and green eyes walked in. His face seemed droll, and he carried an aura of agitation. Cecily, who at that point was contentedly lounging on of the sofas, snorted a little but quickly busied herself with the hem of her dress.

The man turned his attention to her, and lowered himself into a shallow bow, "Gabriel Lightwood. It is nice to make your acquaintance, and thank you very much for your hospitality, Mrs. Herondale."

Clary looked at him bemused, "your welcome?"

William stood up, and looked deeply at Gabriel. "Who found a willing soul to inhabit _your_ body?" Gabriel's face tinted pink, and he took a deep breath before slinking over to the chair beside Cecily's.

"Guess it wasn't a very social soul, probably a silent brother." William seemed to cringe at his own joke as soon as the words left his lips. He ran a hand through his hair, making it look almost blue in the light. Clary noticed that although he was a Herondale, he looked nothing like Jace but had almost identical personality traits. The thought spooked Clary a bit. If the personality was hereditary, it was going to be a task getting her kids to their eighteenth birthday. She suddenly felt a bit woozy, but luckily William chose that moment to remind her why she was here.

"Has anyone seen Charlotte or Henry?"

"Last I saw they were still down stairs," Tessa finally emerged to join the group, her long dress flowing around her as she walked.

Clary was about to address the wardrobe problem when one of her kids nailed her hard in the ribs. A loud pop sounded, and she hunched over as it felt like the breath was sucked out of her. Her sudden movements threw her off balance, but thankfully William was standing close by, and caught her before she could fall over.

Tessa walked over clearly concerned and helped her straighten up. "Are you alright Mrs. Herondale?"

She sucked in a breath and stood up straight, and in true shadowhunter fashion, wiped any trace of pain from her features. "I'm fine. One of the baby's just hit me in a soft spot. Also I'm begging you to please just call me Clary. 'Mrs' is too formal." Cecily came over still looking concerned, and Gabriel watched from the couch looking impassive.

Even William appeared somewhat startled. "Are you sure?"

Clary smiled, "I'll be fine. Anyways, I need to find you all some clothes. Cecily, Tessa come with me, and could you or Gabriel find Henry and Charlotte then meet me at the end of this hall?"

Gabriel stood up, "I will go find them. After all I've been up and down these halls, I stand the best chance of finding my way back. Thank you for that Cecily."

Cecily smirked. "Your welcome."

He didn't acknowledge her reply as he walked briskly out of the room. William clapped his hands together. "Let's go find those clothes shall we?"

It took about an hour, but Clary managed to find a few outfits for everyone. William and Gabriel had both borrowed from Jace's closet. She had tried to fit them into some of the clothes Alec left behind for quick changes at the institute, but most of them were baggy and littered with holes, so she gave them a few of her husband's instead.

Tessa was a couple sizes too large to fit into any of her clothes, and when she brought out a few pieces from Isabell's wardrobe she looked simply scandalized. So Clary went digging and found of few pairs of Simon's shirts and jeans that looked like they would work.

Charlotte had no problem sharing some of Clary's clothes, and Cecily was perfectly content wearing some of Izzy's more modest choices. Henry proved to be the hardest, since he was slimmer than Jace but bigger than Simon, so he had to settle with a bit from both of their closets.

After that ordeal, most of them were pretty tired as it was getting deeper into the night so she sent them all to bed. As soon as the last door was shut, Clary went to go check on few papers and then turn in herself.

Her desk was cluttered with all the paper work that her and Jace typically did together, but she had been handling herself the past week. Clary signed her names on the finished ones and put them in envelopes and organized the unfinished sheets on the left side of her desk. Quickly scribbling a list on a sticky note of the ones she had yet to begin, and she was done for the night.

Clary looked out the window of her room, and could see the glow of the city lights, and hear the sound of the cars buzzing below. It was always slightly surreal how many people drove past the institute without ever knowing what was really there. Even more unbelievable was that she was one of those people only a few short years ago. Now she couldn't imagine her life any different.

She pulled her gaze away from the city, and began undoing the gray comforter from her bed, when she heard a buzzing. As she walked to the door of her room it got louder. Finally, it dawned on her. _The Institutes phone._ The Clave typically had no reason for calling unless it was an emergency.

Clary threw open the door, grabbing heosphorus on the way out, and dashed up the stairs ignoring her aching ribs. After bursting into the library, nearly stumbling to her desk, she grabbed the old phone off of its receiver and held it to her ear.

"The New York Institute has received this call." She huffed the designated phrase out, and the voice was on the other end surprised her. It wasn't one of the usual officials of the Clave, but _Maia_.

"Clary, get down here now. There's a situation, _no_ let me rephrase that, a crisis."

"What's going on?" Clary was hesitant. She was on strict orders to _absolutely not_ leave the institute alone while she was this pregnant, but if Maia was this frantic something was horribly wrong.

Maia's voice came through the line only slightly hysterical. "Let's just say there are body's _everywhere."_

 **Hello, Dear Readers! It killed me a little not the update this sooner, and this chapter is unedited (I shall be sending it to my lovely beta reader to fix, I just wanted to load it ASAP because of the wait) but two words describe the delay. Family Pictures. It's been a little crazy on my end and so sadly this came as a last priority, but good news is that the next update should come MUCH sooner! Also what are people's thoughts on Lady Midnight? I haven't read it yet because my best friend wants to buy me it for my B-Day in a couple of weeks, but I'm dying to get my hands on it. Thank you SOO much to everyone who has Followed/Favorited this story! Especially all you people who left comments! They fuel the juice for this story. Normally I reply to y'all individually, but its super late at night and I am falling asleep at the key bored... I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Sincerely,**

 **FanOfTheWrittenArt~***


	6. Chapter 6

William Herondale-

Will was not particularly fond of being alone. After spending the majority of his life thinking himself unlovable, being able to truly show affection for the people he cared for was a great gift. It was sad that this more joyful point in his life only coincided with Jem for a short while, but it was soothing to know that his brother was not completely lost to him. So Will has been taking this time to revel in the company of his family and friends, but in these quiet moments when he was all alone, the fear that this could be the end of that happiness creeped up on him like death on the aging.

It may be slightly irrational yes, but Will was not a rational person. Ask anyone who has ever known him. Even his dear Tessa would sell him out.

To avoid his heavy thoughts, Will laid on his bed, dressed in the clothes Clary gave him, and pondered their situation. Present problems were always simpler to solve than future ones after all. Sadly, this problem was completely out of the ordinary and almost impossible to comprehend. Somehow Magnus had shot them through a malfunctioning portal, into his own "apartment" hundreds of years in the future where he gave them to their decedents in an attempt to hide them from the Clave. It's comforting to know that no-matter how many years pass, the Clave's ever dense and droll attitude was immortal.

Pondering the density of the Clave was always amusing, and Will laid against the white sheets of the bed chuckling to himself. Envisioning what some of the more flamboyantly obnoxious council members would say if they knew where they were at, almost had him in fits. Angel forbid Benedict Lightworm was still around, had the pox not taken him, he'd probably try to accuse them of consorting with demons. The hypocrisy.

His eyelids were finally feeling heavier, and he felt his tense muscles relax. The calm quiet of the institute, the smell of dust and old books, the thrum of his heart under his skin. In that moment, Will could imagine that the world was at peace for a moment.

Naturally that was a jinx.

Will was almost settled into a restless sleep, when the silence was broken by a loud thumping outside his door. Shooting up like an arrow, he was on his feet and out the door almost immediately. The hallway was dark, but the red head trying running to the steps was quite visible.

"Clary?" He whisper shouted. She whipped her head around and looked at him with a frazzled expression.

"William, what are you doing up?" Clary shook her head as if she thought her own statement was ridiculous. "Never mind. I could actually use your help right now, that is, if you're up for it anyway." She turned around and started to hurry up the stairs, before stopping again. "I take that back too. I need assistance, and your using my home as a hide-out so you're coming with me regardless of whether you want to or not. Follow me." Gesturing him up the stairs, he followed her up the dimly lit stairs.

"What's going on?" Adrenalin started to slowly enter his veins like a drug. While Will may not have been wanting any trouble on this little excursion, he wasn't used to being idle for so long. The thought that there may be a little action excited him. So he rushed after her, and for a girl who was pregnant and in a pair of flannel pants with a shirt depicting little clouds, she was fast.

He kept stride as she explained the dilemma. "The head of the local werewolf pack, who also happens to be a good friend of mine, just called. Somethings gone terribly wrong, but I couldn't understand what she was saying over the phone. I know you guys have to be kept on the down-low from the Clave, but my parents aren't picking up and if it's anything serious I can't handle it alone in my condition. Then due to political problems going to the Clave isn't an option.." She guided them down a long hallway and threw open a door. Inside were walls of blades, a few extra steles, swords, black gear, and all sorts of different equipment. An armory.

"Well I could do well with blowing off a little steam, and this seems to be a potentially entertaining adventure, so why not?" The girl grabbed some of the gear off a hook, and threw it at him before grabbing a belt for herself.

"Find what you need." Will went and searched the walls. Most of the blades were familiar, but there were a few gadgets here and there that looked completely bazaar. He fit and adjusted the gear over his clothes, grabbed a sword, a few small daggers, then as a second thought, a thin black cylinder that intrigued him, and loaded it into his belt. Will didn't need a stele, as he already had his in his pocket.

He turned to see Clary fully adorned in gear, but struggling to fit a belt at her waist. After fidgeting with the length for over a minute she threw her hands up in surrender. Dropping the belt, she reached down and pulled out a longer strap of leather, while muttering angrily under her breath. "Blasted thing. Alec is just going to have to get over it," she slung the strap over her shoulder, fitted her own weapons in it, and fastened it down at least six notches. "There. Are you ready William?"

"Yes, also please call me Will. People can start calling me William once I turn gray."

"Fair enough."

"Kill me now." Will was rudely introduced head first into the New York transportation system. Clary insisted that the fastest way to the part of town that the pack was in, was via subway. Now standing squished between a heavily perspiring man, that reeked of liquor and various other sweaty, ill, underdressed, psychotic looking _mundanes,_ and Clary being shoved against his side, Will learned that sometimes faster isn't always better.

"Suck it up. We need to get there quickly, and a cab wouldn't have been efficient since we would have to cover our runes." She snarked, but looking only slightly less disturbed by the sweating man as him.

"Ever wonder what those glamours we put on were for, sweetheart?" Will shuddered as teary-eyed man in a suit, sneezed into the space he was occupying.

Clary gave him a seething look. "Yes, because to a mundane it would look like two ghosts getting into a car. That's so normal and inconspicuous looking, he may even feel generous and leave the meter off!" She sighed and slouched a little, trying to avoid bumping into the blood-shot-beady-eyed-old-lady. "It's easier to go unnoticed on the subway, typically there aren't a lot of the people up this time of night and those who are, are coming back from bars or just don't care anyway." With the precision of a person well experienced with the subway, Clary reached out and caught Will by the shirt as the train screeched to a stop, saving him from falling into the crowd of gross people.

They exited the train, and made their way through the late night crowds. It was dimly lit in the station, the air felt thick and moist, while the stench of stale food, sweat, and other atrocities assaulted his nose. "I feel as if we have just discovered the birthing place of all the world's great plagues- and rabies." Will shuddered as a rat the size of his fist ran across the floor darting between people's feet. "Definitely rabies."

"At least you don't live here," Clary said her eyes drifting over to a burly man sleeping on a stack of newspapers.

Despite the thick air, Will felt a chill travel up his spine like ghost fingers. He jerked around-and thanks to the sight rune on his neck- could make out the outline of a person watching them from the shadows. A pair of fluorescent yellow eyes followed him, they looked in no way similar Magnus's cat-like irises. these had no whites and the pupils were unnervingly small, like black pin-pricks on a lemon colored globe. Will startled as the creature caught his gaze, and watched stupefied as its pupils swelled to encompass the entirety of its eye. He couldn't look away.

Clary noticed the lag in Will's pace, and followed his line of sight the creature. With a string of angry words, he felt her grabs his arm and pull him at a fast pace out of the subway.

"Don't look back, just keep walking." She followed her own advice as they broke the surface to the street above.

"What was that? It's eyes-" They were entrancing. Looking at them was like hearing a call from your mother, a call you had to answer. Promises lied beneath them, promises of your past, present, future and death. It was terrifying how easily that creature lured him in.

"Probably a faerie of some kind. We've been having troubles with the fae stalking us on our hunts lately. Not just here, but everywhere. It's one of the things my husband is discussing with the clave in Idris. We noticed them watching us months ago, but nothing ever happened so we just ignored it. Then a few weeks ago reports started rolling in from institutes over several different continents describing attacks and all hosted by the faeries, both seelie and unseelie. A lot of wounded and hordes of weapons missing later, they have just now decided that we may need to take action."

Will contemplated that quietly. "Are there any ideas of what their motive is?"

Clary scoffed. "That's easy. The Cold Peace started this whole-" A shrill scream interrupted them. Without looking at each other, they both took off in the direction of the sound.

Getting off the main street, they ducked through an even grittier ally. Dumpsters overflowed with rotten garbage, sludge built up in any and every corner, rats rattled around like beads in a jar, it was disgusting. Will held his breath and continued forward with Clary who was completely un-fased. They popped out facing another large street. The good news was that traffic was low and the other side of the street was completely visible. The bad news, was _what_ was visible.

His heart skipped a few beats in his chest and his blood ran freezing cold.

 _"_ _By the Angel. What a mess."_

A massive gray wolf laid sill on the sidewalk. Its eyes wide open, unseeing. Chest unmoving. More than likely its heart was still as well. Blood leaked from its mouth and nose, but worst of all was the Nephilim blade speared through its sternum. If that wasn't bad enough, there were several vampires standing around the corpse as well. He saw Clary's face pinch, and she drew her sword. When they reached the wolf, the vampires looked up faces entirely blank.

"Better late than never, Shadowhunters." The more willowy, dark-skinned one hissed.

"What happened? Who did this?" Clary fell to her knees beside the wolf, and gently closed its eyes before pulling the blade from its chest. The blade in her grasp was straight, narrow at the tip and slightly wider at the base, the hilt was a dark wood and wrapped with thick black leather. On the blade was a simple pattern and a small bit of Latin script. It looked very similar to her own blade, only slightly larger.

The other vampire, pasty face and goulish looking, let out a humorous laugh. "We don't know. Alphonsus and I just found the dog here and came to see." He looked down, and enraged disbelief fired his eyes. "Tell me that is not the blade of one your kind? It seems as if you may be more involved with this then you appear. Finally decided to follow in papa's footsteps, Morgenstern?"

Her face reddened. "My name is Clarissa _Herondale,_ and before that it was Fairchild. I am not a Morgenstern."

Alphonsus's spoke next, with an odd voice that mimicked the sound of boiling water. "Then why do you wear the Morgenstern ring around your neck, and carry a Morgenstern blade on your hip? Why is it a Morgenstern blade covered in the mutt's blood? Guilty, Shadowhunter, shame. Don't tell lies to us, we are centuries wiser."

Will stepped forward effectively cutting him off. "This is now an official investigation of the Clave. Continue harassing a senior Council member and the head of the local institute, and you could find yourself being interrogated under suspicion of involvement."

"Fine. We will leave you to the clean this up." Alphonsus's younger companion spat a few words at them in a language he was not familiar with, it was assumable they weren't flattering though. Then they sped off and disappeared into the night.

Clary looked up at Will, "You aren't a member of the Council." She handed the blade in her hands to him, and he tucked it in an extra loop on his belt. Clary's make-shift scabbard was full enough already. "Even if you were, you definitely aren't _now_."

Will chuckled. "They didn't know that did they? Plus, I highly doubt that either of them will attempt to call my bluff. From what you told me, if this killing has anything to do with faeries, it would be wise of them to have as little association with the crime as possible. I trust they won't go looking for trouble with the Clave."

"Good point," she said brushing a loose piece of hair behind her ear. Her face was looking a little flush and dark shadows were forming under her eyes. Laying a hand on her protruding stomach, her gaze locked on the dead wolf. "We need to find Maia. She said there were multiple bodies, so if we are going to find any answers she would be the place to start."

"I don't think that will be necessary. That is your wolf friend over there, I am assuming?" He pointed over her shoulder, and she looked up in time to see the frantic woman approach.

"Clary, thank God. This is bad. Very, very bad." Dark brown skin, and eyes somehow managed to stand out vividly against the night. An air of power laced her presence, but is seemingly subdued by sadness and stress.

"What happened?" Will was slightly taken back by the familiarity in her voice. He knew the accords must have been in place for many years now, but it is still shocking to hear a Nephilim speak with such a un-hostile attitude towards a downworlder. Dare say it, Clary looked even friendly in stature with she-wolf-woman.

"A couple of our wolves were being hazed by some faeries at the park earlier, so I sent an order for everyone to gather at the restaurant. It was getting pretty serious and I didn't want anybody to act out and break the Cold Peace by instigating an attack. Most of them came, but there were many that didn't show."

She, Maia, looked grief stricken at the wolf on the ground.

"This is Carter. He was a pretty new turn, but he had been adjusting to this life very quickly. There are five more that we have found in the same state as him, and on top of that, a lot of the youngest pack members are just gone all together. Bat, Leah, and Sid are out looking for them right now, but we can't seem to pick up a sent." Her chest heaved as she took a deep breath, and looked both of them in the eye. "I don't know who this guy you brought is, nor do I care, but I'm swearing to _you_ now Clary, even if faeries are involved, I don't care. I am going to find my missing members even if it means breaking the Peace. If you can't get involved personally, I understand, but at least help me search. Leave the interactions and fighting with us, but we _need_ the appearance of the Nephilim backing us."

"Maia," Clary looked tense. "I'm not sure that us being there will inflict the kind of action you are anticipating. If they have your wolves, it may spur them to act quickly, and wipe their hands clean before the Clave can get involved." She bit her lip hesitantly. "We are also in a bit of a situation ourselves, and Jace is still in Idris along with everyone else. If they caught us negotiating with faeries, on top of the current problem…" In that moment she looked utterly exhausted, and depleted of energy.

She-Wolf looked aghast. "You don't think?"

Clary shook her head "I don't think, I know."

Will almost wished he hadn't understood.

 **Howdy, Readers. Sorry for the long wait, hopefully the long chapter makes up for it! This particular one is also a bit of a filler. I like a good set-up before leading into the thick of the plot. This chapter is in need of editing, so if you see any corrections that could be made, please let me know! Due to my leave of absence, my connection with my beta reader was lost, and for whatever reason I can't seem to re-establish it. As for some good news, I read Lady Midnight a couple months ago and it was perfection! 3 I may even add (Lies! Haha. I already did.) some bits from the book in, since it seems so compatible with the story I'm spinning. Thank you guys so much for reading! And I REALLY appreciate all the comments/follows/favs I got! It made me so happy! I wanted to get this up as fast as possible for you, so I'm not responding to comments made on the previous chapter, but I promise I will for the ones made on this one. :D Don't think they go unappreciated! Every single one means so much to me! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Keep on reading.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **FanOfTheWrittenArt~***

 **(((SPECIAL NOTE)))**

 **I MAY HAVE DROPPED A SPOILER FOR THIS STORY IN MY ONE-SHOT "You Don't Have to Remember" IF YOU CATCH IT, PM ME AND GET A SHOUT OUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. Warning, the story is sad.**


	7. Chapter 7

Tessa Gray-

She was not normally one to snoop, but if there were ever a time to break that standard it was now. Carefully, Tessa tip-toed through the shadows of the hallways, trying her hardest not to be heard. Each creak of the floorboard sent a drip of sweat down her forehead, the soundless echo of empty rooms making it seem all the louder. She knew what she was planning to do was a major invasion of their hostess's privacy, and it would be beyond mortifying to be caught, but something kept drawing her back to those charcoal images. When she noticed that Clary never bothered to retrieve the sketchbook from that table in the library, her plan was set in stone.

Reaching the thick wooden doors of the library, made her heart give a small shudder of relief. Just as the door had creaked an inch open, Tessa heard the sound of footsteps galloping towards her. She threw herself through the doors and pressed them close, just barely before whoever it was passed right by.

Blood pulsing from the exhilaration, she pondered whether or not to feed her curiosity and see what the commotion was, but on the other hand it would raise questions she desired not to answer.

Such as what she was doing rummaging through the institute, like a thief in the dead of night.

Besides, she could see her target still lying on the table where it was left. The soft feel of its leather between her fingers, made the hair on her arms pickle up and a strong sense of deja-vu washed over her.

 _Clarissa Herondale_

The rough engraving made her hesitate in guilt before she flipped to a random page.

Again her eyes lost themselves in each picture, and in turn they tugged at her deepest heartstrings. The innermost dream of every reader is to fall into the stories they love so much, and every image positively drew her in.

Tessa flipped page after page, soaking in the delicate shading and bold curve of every line.

 _Dandelions growing in the shade of a concrete bench._

The room fell darker, shadows seemed to coil at her feet, and a soft floral smell tickled her nose. She turned the page.

 _A rugged looking wolf, with graying hair slept in the soft grass of a meadow. A lady in trousers and a loose green shirt leaned against him, hiding the face of the beast with her long red hair. Both looked content, but the sky was above was swirling with dark clouds._

She felt her body relax with a deep peace. Yet, not a joyful kind, but similar to the calm you feel when realizing that anxiety hastens not the future, and whatever happens will happen in its own time.

 _Murky water and debris swirled around. The vantage point of this picture, was the sight of a person sinking underneath it. Their own hand barely visible in front of their face. Black dust collecting on the surface, and slowly sinking down…_

Fear. The peace was gone, and anxiety tied her stomach in knots. Her breath sped up, but felt smothered, and her vision wavered. Quickly she flipped the page again, and was blindingly attacked.

 _An angel, beaten and weak, was coiled pathetically in a circle of sharply painted runes. Each rune spoke of dark things, words unspeakable to a human tongue, but visibly exuding misery and entrapment. Yet still, his beauty radiated beyond the picture, and could obviously not be justified by graphite and charcoal alone. Scars or not. Terrified or not. Wings sheared off his back. He was_ powerful. _The angel contained a strength that was not his alone, and set his weary figure alight with heavenly fire._

 _A voice. Quiet, and humble breezed across the cusp of her ear._

 _Ithuriel…_

The book flung out of her hands, and her body shook with the ghost pains of when the angel inhabited her skin. Memories bright and sharp. Will, Magnus, Mortmain. Clocks ticking, automations screeching, skin tingling. Burning, fire, heat, scorching heat.

Hands grasped her shoulders.

Tessa sat up taking in a long ragged gasp of air, it felt like she had been dreaming. Light trickled in from the windows, and she had obviously been in the library a _lot_ , longer than she thought. Looking up, squinting through the warm orange light was Henry. Red hair, wide smile, oily hands. Grounding her in her own memories once more. Plain old, loony, Henry.

"Looks like a young lady was doing some digging on our host. Normally I'd oppose to this, I know I would hate it if someone was snooping on my notes, but you look like a person who just stumbled upon a ghost." He bent down to pick up the sketchbook that had fallen off her lap, and had only just barely thumbed a page open before she swatted it out of his hands.

"Don't! There is some kind of magic attached to it. I've been stuck in it for hours." Tessa reclined back in her seat. She felt a little shaky.

Henry pressed his lips in a hard line. "Dark magic?"

"No. Maybe? I don't know. It's nothing like I've ever felt before, but it didn't seem inherently evil... Just so vivid, it was surreal."

He nodded his head as if he understood. Quite frankly, she had never seen Henry so _awar_ e. Without his lab and a project to dote on, he was almost as alert as a normal human. Even with this sudden switch, though, he still had that faraway look in his eye she had learned to associate with him. It was like he was just a little bit closer. "Go up and get some rest, Tessa. The others should be rising soon, and I'd wager my money Will is already lurking around somewhere. I will tell Charlotte and we will keep an eye on Mrs. Herondale. Go sleep." Henry gave a friendly pat on her shoulder before leaving the room.

Tessa was quick to heed Henry's advice. Whatever spell she had been under must have fed off her own energy, because she felt utterly depleted. Hours passed, and it was long into the afternoon before a peculiar noise roused her. It sounded like rain, but from the intense sunlight pouring into her room it was obviously not.

Somewhat in a daze from the deep sleep she was in, it took a few moments before enough strength filled her limbs to make them move. Even then, Tessa felt like her gate was similar to that of an automation's. The sound of rain persisted, and the curiosity became too much not to investigate. Stepping out of her room, it didn't take long before she found the source. At the end of the hall, all of her friends were gathered in one of the bedrooms, Cecily's she believed; and their gazes were filled with wonder as they stared into a smaller adjoining chamber. Excited chatter filled the air, along with… was that steam?

"Tessa, come look at this!" Cecily exclaimed when she finally noticed her arrival. "Clary says it's called a shower. It's rain you can bath in! In your house!"

"She's not lying." Will peeked from behind Gideon. "I had one and it was _simply splendid._ You know what I say, a little dirt is good for a man, but this cleaned me so deep it almost washed the grit off my soul. Maybe if we stick Gabriel in there, it will turn him into a somewhat decent human being." The supposed 'less-than-decent-human-being' glared at Will, but in a show of great restraint kept his mouth shut.

"You say you can choose the temperature of your water by turning that handle? It is that simple?" Gideon said perplexedly at someone in the shower-room. Tessa stepped forward and saw Clary standing alone in a small tiled room. It was a pale cream color, with a white tiled floor and marble counter. Next to the counter sat a flush toilet, something Henry had installed in the institute himself, though slightly different from the one she was used too, she had guess the concept was the same. It was very similar to what was attached to her own room, but the exotic feature was the smoot white tub in the back. Over it was a protruding pipe with a round disk that was spewing steaming, hot water. Clary stood next to it controlling the handle Gideon had mentioned.

"Yup. This is honestly kind of weird, I've never given someone a demonstration on how to use a shower before… I'm sorry I didn't think of it before. Most of these rooms only have a half bath, this is one of twenty or so that have a full one. Three of which are occupied now, but if you'd like, you can movie into one of the vacant ones? If you don't want to move, then the training rooms have shower stations attached.

"I am quite interested," Henry murmured. He rubbing thumb against his jaw and eying the room inquisitively. Tessa kind of hoped he would be able to recreate something like this in their own time, because it didn't sound terrible at all.

An hour later that statement still stood true. Clary had found her a room with a full bath, and supplied her with various, colorful bottles containing different kinds of soaps. It was heavenly. All the grime was off her skin, her long, brown, hair was soft and light, and the smell of cherries exuded in the room. With great reluctance Tessa finally stepped out and wrapped herself in the red towel that she had been given.

Her new room was very similar to the last, but with a few striking differences. The window in this room was significantly larger and took up a great portion of the wall, a gorgeous stained glass rose adorning the center. Red covers decorated the bed, matching the color of the rose in the window, where in the other room they had just been white. Also the furniture in general seemed to be better kept, everything was dusted, polished and primped to perfection. Tessa was silently pleased with the change, she wasn't normally one to long for luxurious things but it was certainly enjoyable for the time being.

A new set of clothes was lying on the bed waiting for her, a long, green tunic like garment, and a pair of form fitting black trousers. Both were made of soft material and while it felt strange compared to her normal wardrobe, it was comfortable as well.

Tessa was musing the differences between her time and now, when there was a sudden loud banging on her door. She opened it to see a clean but shocked looking Will standing on the other side holding a…. very perturbed looking cat.

"Will, what on earth are you doing with a cat?" There was obviously something more going on here. Something that she was missing. The cat in his arms didn't warrant the distressed look he was wearing on his face,

"Look at it! Tell me you don't recognize this beastly thing." Will thrusts the cat closer to her, almost shoving it in her face.

"Will, I-" Then it clicked.

 _Church_.

Her head seemed to be buzzing. "I-It can't be him. He'd have to be centuries old! Cats don't live that long…"

Church started squirming in his arms. "I always thought you were possessed by some demon, this just proves my theory. It's a wonder you can walk in an institute." Will grumbled. They both looked down at the cat, still somewhat in wonder. It came as a bit of a shock when Church lashed out, catching him on the face with his claws. A string of curse words flew from his mouth, all ending in cat, and his eyes lit up like blue fire. Church leaps from the arms restraining him and took off down the hall.

"We have to follow him!" She exclaimed pushing past Will and sprinting down the hall.

"Why are we chasing after the cat! It obviously wants nothing to do with us." Will said, now running slightly ahead of her.

"If that cat is Church, it means that something even more strange is happening here. Considering the possibility that somehow that cat managed to survive a couple hundred years, and become the oldest cat in existence; what are the odds we would wind up in the same place as him? It can't just be a coincidence." Will had no reply to that, they just continued scurrying through halls and down stair cases trying not to lose sight of Church.

Finally, he started slowing down as he reached the hallway leading to the elevator. "Ugh, you blasted cat. Your fast for an old man." Will scooped the much more complacent feline up, and cradled him to his chest. Church nestled in, giving them an almost smug look. "Don't get me wrong. I still hate you." He said glaring down.

"Church." A familiar voice called from behind them.

They turned in time to see Clary coming down the hall with a slender man beside her.

Tessa's body froze with shock. _It can't be…_ By her side, Will dropped Church at the same time the word fell from his lips.

"Jem?"

 **This is my favorite cliff hanger so far! There aren't a lot of answers to the questions from the previous chapter, but have no fear, you will hear more about the aftermath of that in the future. This story is somewhat slow going, but I am pretty pleased with it so far! I'm determined to get it all the way to completion, but I also don't want it to be poor quality. Speaking of quality, this chapter is unedited so there are probably several spelling/grammatical errors that I overlooked. Sometime in the future, I will go through and start combing through chapters to fix that. So if there is something you notice, please feel free to tell me! Ya'll's comments mean a lot to me and are great encouragement. 3**

 **Flora Silverthrush-** Your answer is close, but not quite. Also the TID characters will affect the story VERY much, the characters individually as well. Thank you for commenting! Your continued support means a lot!

 **Conan In Love** Thank you!

 **ZaraRiverSong-** I'm glad! I didn't want to just throw them into this new world and not have them question the changes in it. That seemed unrealistic to me, because I know I would be freaking out about everything!

 **Question- In between chapters, I am tempted to do some one-shots. If I did, what are some things you guys would like to see? ( I do not write M rated material) Not just TMI either, I've also wanted to do something for Vampire Academy too, if there are any fans out there!**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **Sincerely,**

 **FanOfTheWrittenArt~***


End file.
